A discussion of the importance and impact of the articles of confederation

When his pleas were ignored, he claimed that his rights were being abused and took up arms, declaring "no taxation without representation. Conservatives argued for sovereignty in the hands of a strong central government.

What were the effects of these differences, as demonstrated in the Articles of Confederation and in U. After six years of disunity and an ineffective central government, conservatives called for change and were able to persuade the American people to adopt a more centralized form of government.

Non-slave states would have insisted that they not be counted towards representation and slave states would have insisted that they do. This demonstrated the weakness of the national government to suppress rebellion from within.

If votes in congress had been based on population then the states would have disagreed about the way to count slaves.

Shays followed democratic procedures to protest these measures through petition. These would re-surface and be dealt with by the U. Overall, giving each state one vote in Congress was in line with the radical perspective and successfully avoided the contentious issues of slavery and state size.

The equal vote also avoided the potentially difficult and divisive issue of slavery and different size states. Government since mostly reflects the ideas of the conservatives, in which the balance of power rests securely in the national government.

Study Questions 1 Compare and contrast the beliefs of radicals and conservatives with respect to the formation of the new government.

Additionally, larger states would have had an unfair advantage over smaller states, which already worried about being economically disadvantaged.

The Massachusetts state legislature, in an effort to quickly repay its state debts, sharply increased taxes while demanding immediate repayment of all debts. Radicals did not believe the central government should have the right to tax or to regulate commerce, or have supreme authority over the states.

The radicals mostly got their way in the Articles of Confederation, which placed the balance of power in the state governments. The result was that under the Articles, Americans experienced economic chaos and political confusion that actually threatened their rights.

Many agreed on the need for a strong national government that would have the authority to assume the debts of the states, to tax, and to be the final appeal in all cases of injustice.

By giving each state a single vote in Congress, the Articles of Confederation implied that each state was its own sovereign government, and that the national government did not directly reflect the mass of all the people in the country.

The overall impact of this event was to convince many of the need for a new system of government that would prevent similar incidents. These items were all integrated into the U. If the Articles had dictated that representation in Congress be based on the population of each state, it would imply that sovereignty lay with the national government rather than the states.

Radicals believed that the confederation should protect the sovereign rights of states while providing a Congress to provide for common defense.Video: The Articles of Confederation: Summary & Analysis In this lesson, we will discuss the background leading to the Articles of Confederation.

We will then summarize the different articles contained in the document and analyze their importance. What was the impact of Shays' Rebellion on constitutional government in the United States?

Daniel Shays' rebellion demonstrated the problems with the state and national governments under the Articles of. The Articles of Confederation is an important document in American history because it united the individual states and established the federal government.

It defined the law of the United States from until the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in The Articles of Confederation, or formerly known as the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement made between the thirteen sovereign states that established the newly formed United States of America.

The Articles of Confederation were and still are very important to the development of the United States of America. The existence of the Articles of Confederation makes it possible for us to have two parties. Without a form of government prior to the constitution, we could have no reactionaries, meaning our two party system would become weaker.

Video: The Articles of Confederation and the Northwest Ordinance The Articles of Confederation was the new nation's founding document, but the government established under the Articles .